North Country

A 51-year-old Massachusetts man died in a snow machine accident in Milan Wednesday night, according to a news release from new Hampshire Fish and Game.

The victim was identified as Kenneth Smalley Jr. 51 of North Billerica.

Smalley was the last rider in a group of four when he lost control of his snow machine on a corner and hit several trees, according to the release. He died at the scene from what were described as “extensive injuries.”

Ayesha Khan says her documentary – Made in Pakistan – being shown late this week in Plymouth, Bethlehem and Concord tries to show Americans a different perspective on Pakistan than the one they typically get from watching the news.

That perspective comes from a look at the lives of four professionals, two men and two women.

They are described as an aspiring politician; a young mother, teacher and magazine editor; an event manager working in the fashion industry; and a lawyer and devout Muslim.

While he was hunkered down in his sleeping bag waiting to be rescued from just below the Franconia Ridge a man from Maine says he was no longer worried about himself, but about the Fish and Game officers headed his way in the dark, poor visibility and high winds.

“You feel kind of horrible putting other people in that situation,” said Evan Embrey, 24, of Buxton, Maine.

Embrey told NHPR he was hiking on the ridge between Mt. Lafayette and Little Haystack Mountain when winds picked up,

“It was pushing me over, so it had to be gusts of 50 or 60 mile per hour,” he said.

Here is how the North Country representatives voted on Wednesday when the House passed a resolution – HCR32 - calling for the United States to withdraw from the United Nations “so that the United States may retain its sovereignty and control over its own funds and military forces.”

Here’s how North Country representatives voted on a resolution passed by the House Wednesday to express support for Arizona’s controversial immigration law.

The resolution is HCR2.

Part of the Arizona law requires the police to determine the immigration status of a person they have detained and whether the suspect is in the country illegally. The U.S. Supreme Court has said in December it would consider the law, NPR has reported.

The Emergency Powers Act says during a declared emergency – with the permission of the governor and the executive council - the government can take property ranging from vehicles to “provisions for man or beast… in excess of the reasonable and immediate needs of the owner and the owner's household.”

The new owners of the Balsams resort in Dixville Notch are pulling together the money they need for a massive renovation. And, they hope federal programs will give them a big boost. NHPR’s Chris Jensen reports.

Late last year North-Country businessmen Dan Herbert and Dan Dagesse bought the Balsams Grand Resort in Dixville Notch for about $2.3 million.

Now they are looking for the money they need for an extensive renovation.

It is badly needed to make the resort competitive, get it open again and put hundreds of people back to work.

An ambitious plan to revitalize Berlin’s downtown and make it the social and economic focus of the city is finished and now officials are looking around for millions of dollars to carry it out.

"The downtown is the heart of the community. If people come through our downtown and don’t feel it is alive the people will pass on and go to another community,” said Sylvia Poulin, the chairperson of the Main Street Program.

The Concord Monitor is reporting that a statewide poll shows almost 70 percent of those responding are against the Northern Pass hydro-electric project being able to use eminent domain to get land they need.

The Forest Society says it has raised the $850,000 needed for a conservation easement at the Balsams Grand Resort Hotel in Dixville Notch. It blocks a right-of-way for the proposed Northern Pass hydro-electric project. NHPR’s Chris Jensen reports.

The Forest Society’s deadline for raising $850,000 for a 5,800-acre conservation easement at the Balsams resort was January 15th.

It raised the money with a record 1,500 contributions.

And, The Forest Society says Northern Pass’ hope to use the land for its electric towers deserves some of the credit.

John D. Judge, who will take over as head of the Appalachian Mountain Club next month, says its priorities will include continued opposition to the Northern Pass project and trying to get more children away from computer games and into the outdoors.

The proposed hydro-electric project would clearly have a detrimental impact on recreation and conservation, said Judge.